Puppet
by Juana la Cliker-Rooster
Summary: Transformers Animated. Megatron is bored, and holds Ratchet hostage while unleashing a puppet of the medic into the Autobot base, and Bumblebee becomes Megatron's main target. It get violent at Chapter Seven. Don't read if triggered easily. Complete.
1. Bored

"**Puppet"**

**By Juana La Cliker-Rooster**

**2008**

**Universe: Transformers: Animated (TF:A)**

**Disclaimer: Considering I was born the same year Transformers G1 hit our TV screens, I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell you I don't own the rights to them. **

**Hi everyone! Juana is back with something new! If you are reading my work for the first time, then it's nice to have you here! This is actually my second Transformers fic, I'm just uploading this one first, since it's shorter than the other (I think...) and I got most of it done in just a few days. I was that dedicated to it.**

**This story does contain some language and lots of violence. In the event that you or someone you know has been abused in some way and are easily triggered, I suggest you not read this. For those of you that do read this despite my warning, please seek help if you need it. I'll even give you some helpful websites if you want to check them (note: there is a warning when you open the site about it being hard to delete from cookies. Use a safe computer so that anyone you may be afraid of doesn't track it and hurt you for it.)**

**any MySpace users, you can find the 1-800-Suicide Hopeline page for help, too.**

**You can also e-mail the Samaritans (non-religious, non-profit) for free. It's Their website is have a habit of caring about everyone, even strangers, so I post this stuff in the hopes that someone will find the help they need. Even if you feel like you aren't worth anyone's time, you are worth it, and you deserve to help yourself and get help. **

**Other than that, enjoy the story. And STAY SAFE, YA'LL!**

**Love, Juana**

**p.s. I don't own or work for any of the above sites/emails. I just love everyone and want them to stay a little while longer.

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**One: Bored**

His day began like any other day: wake up, wash, eat (sometimes), get dressed, get in the car, drive to work. And his day went like any other day: do work, ponder, fix a bug, invent something new, destroy a failed prototype, punch out, go home, eat, sleep, do it all again the next morning.

No doubt about it. Issac Sumdac was bored. So very incredibly bored.

So was Megatron. The evil, feared leader of the Decepticons was utterly bored, and it didn't matter how many times he came up with some new scheme to destroy the Autobots, or how often he was able to steer the human scientist toward his own goals. Megatron had no body, he had no real way of going anywhere, and as a result, he was, as the humans said, going out of his mind with boredness.

He needed something new, something fresh to liven up his day, but what? What could he possibly do without a body to take him around? He had downloaded and viewed countless web pages, learning everything he could about the human world: the oceans, the animals, the forests, the body, sex, movies, pollution, religion, art, music, cartoons...he had seen it all and he knew it all.

Megatron was watching 'Scooby-Doo' for the four-hundredth time when Sumdac prepared to leave for the night, muttering something about the Autobots babysitting his daughter that he suddenly had a thought.

"Oh, my goodness!" he cried ecstatically. "Of course!" He turned around to face Megatron and said,

"My friend, I have just had a wonderful thought!" Megatron groaned on the inside, having heard countless 'wonderful thoughts' in just a few weeks, and was sure this one was no different. But he kept his thoughts to himself and asked politely,

"Yes, my friend, what is it?"

"The Autobots! If I could create animatronic renditions of them, and place them around the city with a wireless puppeteer for each one, crime in Detroit could be slashed in half!"

Normally, the scientist came up with unnecessary ideas that Megatron shrugged off as obsolete and antique. But as soon as he was done with his sudden proposal, Megatron felt his circuits shudder. It was brilliant! The idea excited him...if he could control these supposed animatronic puppets, Detroit, then the world, would be his! It was perfect. Almost too perfect.

Megatron's silence, delighted though it was, appeared ominous and upset to the scientist, who dropped his shoulders and said,

"I suppose it is a stupid idea. I hope I meant no disrespect, Megatron."

"Hmm? Oh! No, my friend, not at all. No, I find the idea brilliant. I encourage the idea and support it fully. I was simply considering...the puppet process. Wireless, you say? Explain how your primitive technology would achieve such a feat."

"Well," answered Sumdac, "I was hoping perhaps you would assist me. I would establish a wireless link in each puppet and have someone control it like a remote control car. They would speak into a microphone, which would, through a sound frequency filter, come out of the puppet sounding like the original Autobot!"

"I can assist you, but I need time to observe my...Autobot friends. Do you have any live video feeds from their base?"

"My daughter recently made it known to me that they have taken up residence in a warehouse I was unaware I owned. I paid them a visit and asked permission to do so. They were a little reluctant, but they let me do it nonetheless. I promised them I'd never watch it unless I felt the need to do so. I will leave it on for you tonight, if you'd like."

"Yes. That is exactly what I'd like for you to do, my friend. I need time to observe them. I haven't seen them in so long it's hard to remember their mannerisms."

"Very well. Good night, my friend. I shall see you tomorrow."

"Yes. 'Good night' to you as well." And with that, the scientist left and locked the door, leaving Megatron with a live video feed of the Autobots' base.

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End of Chapter One! Please review so I know what people think.**

**-Juana**


	2. Observations

**Two: Observations**

As soon as Megatron turned his attention to the large screen, he was greeted with constant drama. He recalled seeing similar moments he'd seen in the humans' idiotic 'reality television' programs: the constant arguing, fighting, violence, immaturity and much more. It was almost sickening to see how they lived together, and it was even more sickening to know that it was this group of pathetic rejects that had led him to his current situation.

Yet he watched, disgusted, surprised, annoyed and totally engrossed in what he decided to dub as "The Real World: Autobots". The first thing that he saw was an argument between the little yellow Autobot and the dark one, the one that rarely spoke.

"Ah, come on Prowl! It was a joke! A JOKE! Can't ya take a little joke every once in a while?"

"Not when I find posters advertising obscene things tacked to my tree," replied the dark one known as Prowl. He held up two posters that Megatron had to adjust his optics to see: "Have you seen this 'Bot's logic processor? Neither have we," and "Ninja-Bot for Hire!" Both featured crayon drawings of the dark Autobot, looking suspiciously like they were drawn by an eight-year old child.

"I hope copies of these idiotic posters haven't left the base, Bumblebee, or else you're going to receive the worse punishment I can think of."

"Oh?" said the yellow one called Bumblebee, "and what could you possibly do that's so horrible?"

"I can tie you to a chair to prevent you from moving, and make you watch nature documentaries with me for a week straight."

"...No you wouldn't."

"Watch me," said Prowl, and he threw Bumblebee over his shoulder, toting him over to the sofa. Bumblebee yelled out,

"GAH! NO! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just don't make me watch anything I can learn from!"

"Prowl! Bumblebee! What the slag are you fraggin' younglings doing now!?" came the shout of someone who sounded very, very old. Megatron found the voice slightly familiar...

"Ratchet! Oh, thank Primus! Prowl's going to torture me!"

"'Bout time," the older mech spat, now entering the room and making himself clearer to Megatron.

'Ah,' thought the Decepticon, 'I remember you, Doctor Ratchet.'

"Normally I would let you continue your business here, Prowl, but unfortunately, Prime'll have my head if I let you. So you'll just have to wait until I'm not around to torture the little pain."

Prowl smirked, despite being prevented from carrying out his evil plan, and dropped Bumblebee, who jumped up as soon as he hit the floor. Bumblebee growled,

"You're a sla—OW!" He rubbed his head where the doctor had suddenly smacked him, much to Megatron's surprise, and yelled,

"What the fra—OW! Stop that!"

"Don't swear, kid. It's a disgusting habit."

"You swear all the time!"

"Like I said, it's a disgusting habit. Once you get into it, you can't get out of it. And me, I'm stuck with it." Bumblebee crossed his arms and growled,

"Yeah, well, there's no need to hit me over it." Prowl chuckled, and Bumblebee turned to face him, anger written all over his face.

"Shut up, ninja." Both Prowl and Ratchet began to laugh as they walked away from the angry little Autobot. Megatron watched with fascination. It appeared this little yellow brat could get along with no one, getting into constant arguments with his elders and causing trouble for everyone.

Megatron didn't have time to consider using the youngest Autobot for his evil scheme. He suddenly focused all his attention on the Autobot who was now entering the room.

"Prime..." hissed Megatron as he set his eyes upon the grandson of his now-deceased and much hated enemy, Optimus Prime. They had met only briefly, but Megatron had been surprised by the very few resemblances this young Autobot bore to the one he had known in the Great War of Cybertron. While Optimus Prime Senior had been massive, strong, full of confidence and a fantastic leader (even Megatron had to admit that much), this...child was nothing like his Grandfather.

This Optimus Prime had not actually earned the title of Prime; he had been named after his Grandfather. The Title of Prime was now held by Sentinel Prime, who saw this youngling as a near-lost cause. No, this young person had even washed-out of the Academy, having failed at a number of things. His confidence wasn't the best, his own team barely listened to him...he was, in a word, a failure.

Megatron watched the young Optimus Prime, interested in the young descendant of his enemy, trying to decide how he could manipulate the brat.

"What's going on in here?" the leader asked, not looking too perplexed about the goings-on in the base. Ratchet and Prowl simply said together,

"Bumblebee."

"Ah. I see. Bumblebee, let's go talk."

"What? I didn't do any—"

Prowl lifted up his arms, displaying Bumblebee's homemade posters to Prime. Optimus shook his head and said,

"You and me. NOW." He grabbed the yellow 'bot's arm and pulled him out of the main room and towards his office. Megatron, eager to see how the failure Prime would handle the discipline issue, played around with the remote controls until he found the office. Prime had locked the door, forced the delinquent into a chair and sat at his messy desk, across from the angry youngling. His office was not unlike Bumblebee's: messy, unorganized and confusing.

"So, what's up, big guy?" Megatron would have raised an eyebrow at this approach, if he had eyebrows. Normally, he found that simply beating a troublesome Cybertronian fixed a problem. What good did talking do?

"Just leave me alone, Prime."

"Bumblebee, your behavior around here is...it's unnecessary. I just want to know what's going on, why you're acting the way you do. Is it a cry for attention? Are you worried about something?"

"No," growled the youngling. Prime sighed.

"Listen, Bumblebee, I was your age once. I know how it is to be this young. Your system is going through changes; your mind tends to think about things that can be considered embarrassing, it happens. I went through it, Ratchet and Prowl and Bulkhead went through it. Even Megatron went through it. It's normal. And you're acting like a normal adolescent 'bot. But I also remember that I had a lot on my mind that I never talked about. So I'm offering you a chance to tell me anything that might be bothering you."

"Nothing is bothering me. I just like to have fun."

"...Bumblebee—"

"WHAT? What could you possibly want to hear?! I said NOTHING is bothering me! Except you, maybe. Just leave me alone."

"Okay, okay, I get it. You need your space. But I need you to be a little more sensitive to your other teammates."

"Fine. Whatever. Can I go now?"

"I'd rather you stay with me and talk. I'm a little concerned. You like to upset people. Is there a reason for this?"

"I'm not trying to annoy any—"

"You make rude posters of other Autobots, you intrude on their privacy, you pick on them and call them names; I could go on. Don't tell me you're not trying to annoy them. There's something on your mind, and I want to know what."

Bumblebee honestly had no reason for his behavior. It was just in his programming. But he knew Prime wouldn't let up on him until he gave some reason. So he made up a quick lie:

"I think about bonding. A lot." There, he thought. A perfectly legitimate excuse. Humans blamed their actions on thoughts of bonding, or what they called 'sex', so why not try it out here? Luckily for Bumblebee, Prime bought it.

"Ah, I see. All right, let's talk. You have any questions?"

"Uh...no. I just think about it. A lot."

"Yes, we all think about it at this age. It's normal. But why would you act out this way, I wonder...?"

"Lack of experience, I guess." Bumblebee lied quickly. He really didn't care about bonding in the least—there was too much mischief to cause to care about it yet. Optimus gave him a confused look, then said,

"Haven't you even just experimented with it alone in your r—"

Bumblebee's horrified scream was heard throughout the base, and a mile beyond. Megatron had to quickly mute the video feed to prevent himself from going deaf. He kept his optics on the screen and chuckled slightly as the youngest Autobot crashed through the locked door and raced out of the office, completely horrified by what his commander had just suggested.

He zoomed past his close friend, the enormous Bulkhead, who was trying to build something artistic out of a wheelbarrow of bricks.

"Hey, buddy! Are you—geez. What's his problem?"

"No idea," came a response from the main room, where Prowl was watching a documentary about lions. As Megatron watched the dysfunctional Autobots, he was finding himself more shocked than scheming.

"How the frag am I going to use any of this? They're all insane!" He calmed himself and thought,

'There must be something I can do. That little yellow brat causes more trouble than even Starscream. I..." His thoughts were interrupted as the Autobot medic returned to the main room, probably in response to the screaming filling the base. He marched angrily to the little Autobot's room and pounded on the door.

"Open up," he growled. "NOW." Bumblebee timidly opened his door and peered out.

"I don't wanna talk about—OW!" Ratchet had grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his room, only to give him a sharp smack on the back of his head.

"I don't know how else to get it through that thick head of yours, but if I have to beat you within an inch of your life, I will."

"Ratchet!" came the desperate cry of the team leader. The medic turned his head and said,

"Prime."

"You'll do no such thing, Ratchet."

"Worked in my day, it'll work for him."

"No it won't!" said Bumblebee. "I'll be even more obnoxious if you hit me. I can prove it too!" He went to bite Ratchet's hand, but the older mech simply smacked him again. Bumblebee recoiled and said,

"Stop that. It hurts."

"See?" said Ratchet with a wide grin across his face, "It works. Now, if I hear another sound from you, you're in deep trouble, mister. And I will let Prowl tie you up and force you to watch educational documentaries for three human weeks if you get in anyone's way again."

"Eeep..." came the very quiet, evidently freaked-out response from Bumblebee, who knew better than to get really out of hand at this point. He gave the medic his best 'puppy-dog' eyes, but no one was going to trust it.

"Don't even try, kid. It's not that cute, anyways."

Optimus Prime laughed and said,

"Yeah. Listen, we just want you to stop being so...crazy, I guess would be the right word. Just stop being crazy, and we'll all get along better."

"Highly doubt it," called Prowl down the hallway. Prime paused, then said,

"...we will all get along better. I think that—" Ratchet interrupted him and said,

"Bumblebee, you're to stay in your room and think about what you can do differently about your behavior. And I'll know if you're playin' around on your computer. We'll be sendin' Sari home when she arrives tomorrow morning, too."

"What?! This is so lame!"

"Ya did it to yourself, kid," said Ratchet. "Now get in there and come up with a few solutions. I want a visual report from you in one mega-cycle."

"WHAT?! THIS IS SO UNFAIR! YOU'RE NOT MY CREATOR, RATCHET!"

"Life is unfair," replied Ratchet. "Now, do you want another smack to the head, or what?" Bumblebee slammed the door in his face angrily as his answer. Ratchet chuckled, and looked up at Optimus Prime, expecting him to find the Autobot leader just as tickled, but instead was met with disapproving eyes.

"I don't believe in hitting, Ratchet."

"I know you don't youngling. But I know for a fact it works for some people, and I can get it to work for Bumblebee. If he wants me to stop, he has to stop first. It's that easy."

Megatron listened to the conversation, an evil idea forming in his mind. It would be merely a prototype, and it wouldn't be advertised to the public, but he had an idea. All he needed was that pathetic human to show up, and that wouldn't be for a few more earth hours. But it was all well. Megatron had a plan, something he wanted to test, and he had the rest of the night to plan it.

**End Chapter Two. Tell me what you thought!**

**-Juana**


	3. You Need A Vacation

**And now, the really short chapter:**

**Three: You Need A Vacation**

"Good morning, my friend," yawned a very sleepy Isaac Sumdac, clutching a coffee and moving zombie-like into his private lab.

"Good morning," replied Megatron, working very hard at containing his excitement. He watched the scientist move around, trying to locate his desk and chair. When he found it, he plopped down tiredly and yawned again.

"Did you remember anything from watching your friends last night?"

"Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. I recalled many of their behaviors and I have a proposal for you, my friend. But first you must agree with me on one thing."

"Yes, of course. What is it?"

"You need a vacation." The statement caught the scientist off guard, but he nodded and agreed,

"You are quite correct. I have not been on a vacation in a long time. My daughter has wanted to go to Sea World for some time...perhaps a trip to Florida is in order. Well, now, since that's settled, tell me your idea, my friend."

"I have thought more about your initial proposal of using animatronic puppets, and I have decided that we need to keep it a secret from the general public, including my friends. I feel that if people know about it, then crime in Detroit will not diminish. Rather, it will stay the same. I think it would be in our best interest to ask one of my friends to come here and perform a bio scan on him. I was thinking perhaps the medical officer."

"I see. And why him, exactly?"

"He is intelligent, and I want to see if there is a way to duplicate that into a puppet."

"Very well," replied Sumdac. "I will go over there myself and discuss it with him."

"No," said Megatron sharply, "no. Call him here on 'official business'. Order him to tell no one, and that he is needed for something very top secret."

"Um...very well. If you say so, my friend. When should I—"

"Have one of your men pay him a visit. Have him instruct the medic to visit me tonight around midnight, to talk. Do not mention me to him at all. Just have him come here to see me."

"...If you say so." Isaac Sumdac didn't feel all that safe suddenly. The robot head in his lab had a deep obsession with keeping himself secret from his friends. Wouldn't they be able to fix him with their own technology? But then again, he wasn't going to argue with the thing. So he obeyed the robot, unsure for the first time if it was really his 'friend'.

"Hello? Yes, this is Isaac...Joshua, please meet me in my office...not the private one, the other one...thank you." He looked over at Megatron and said,

"I must go meet my intern. He will deliver the message to your doctor friend."

"Excellent," said Megatron, very pleased at how well his plan was going already. "Remember, he must inform my friend to tell no one."

"Yes, my friend." And with that, Sumdac left the lab. Megatron laughed as soon as the human was out of range. He was rather surprised at how easy it was to control him. Humans were such stupid creatures! Megatron began his arrangements for the night's meeting. With Sumdac out of the way, he was able to use any power he had to construct a bio scanner that would do what he wanted it to do. It would have sounded far-fetched if Megatron had nothing to work with, but the obsolete lab had more in it than anyone would have expected.

The Decepticon could make it work for him, with a ton of patience and concentration.


	4. It's Been A While

**New chapter up! And probably more on the way soon. I've been powering through this one like a nut. Thanks to all the reviewers so far!**

**-Juana**

**P.S. there's a livejournal community dedicated to TF:A fanfics. **

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**Four: It's Been A While**

The day had come and gone, and Bumblebee was still in his room, having seen no one since the night before when things had gotten a little out of control. He was just having fun! Was that so bad? It wasn't his fault that Ratchet was a grumpy old man, or that Prowl had the personality of a log. He just wanted to give them some excitement for once, trying to get them to laugh or see them smile for even a second.

He kicked the wall angrily and slammed his rear down on his recharge berth. Ratchet would be arriving in just a few breems to get him and his non-existent report on behavior, and he was going to receive another hit to the head for not having the report. He lay down on the berth and dimmed his optics, not prepared in the least for his latest punishment.

KNOCK. KNOCK.

Slag.

"Who is it," he called carelessly, not even bothering to make the question sound like a question. He already knew who it was.

"It's me, big guy."

Okay, so maybe he didn't know who it was. He had expected the grumpy old medic, not Optimus Prime to come looking for him.

"Uh...come in?" The door opened, and in stepped his commander.

"Hey, kid. How you doing?" He closed the door behind him. Bumblebee sat up and answered,

"I'm okay. I thought Ra—"

"Someone from Sari's father's lab come by to get him. Apparently they're working on something secret and needed his help. They must have needed his medical knowledge for it if it's robotic. So I'm here instead. I'm assuming you don't have that report he wanted."

"No, I don't. I mean, does he honestly think I'm going to write him a report after he smacked me in the head like that? Not cool, man."

"I know," said Prime as he sat down beside his soldier, "Don't worry; I talked with him about it. He shouldn't do it again. You let me know if he does, deal?"

"Deal," said a very happy Bumblebee. Then he said slowly,

"Are you here to yell at me? Because if you are, the suspense is killing me."

"No, I'm not here to yell. I just want to talk. Your behavior is inappropriate, and you know it. No one else acts this way, Bumblebee. I understand you're young and all, but there's no need to act that way."

"I know. I just...it's in my programming. That's who I am."

"I understand. Just...try to tone it down a bit, okay?" Bumblebee didn't answer. He didn't like being told to 'tone it down' when all he knew was how to crank it up. He acted the way he felt, and he generally felt pretty happy. Optimus Prime could feel Bumblebee's annoyance, and said,

"Listen, just come to me anytime you want to talk. Everyone needs to talk about their feelings, including you."

"Oh, right. Like everyone goes to you to talk."

"Well, yeah."

"And I suppose the super-quiet, personality-of-a-rock ninja 'bot has gone to you to talk about his non-existent feelings, too."

"Yes. And everyone else has. Even Ratchet. What's that human saying...? Oh, yes: 'Don't knock it until you try it'. Even I go to one of the other Autobots to talk about my own problems."

But it wasn't working. Prime could clearly tell Bumblebee didn't want to hear about it anymore. So he got to his feet and said,

"I just want you to know you can come to me anytime. Okay?"

"Sure."

"You can leave your room now and join us if you want. We're watching a movie in a few minutes. Bulkhead picked it out."

"Yeah, sure." The little 'bot got off his berth and followed his leader to the main room, where the others, sans Ratchet, were waiting.

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Sumdac Tower:

"So what are ya humans workin' on that you need my help? And why is it so slaggin' secret?" Ratchet asked the very timid young man known as Joshua the intern.

"It...I don't kn-know, sir...I was just t-told to get you. Just followin' orders, s-sir."

"Good boy," said Ratchet. "We got a young kid back at the Autobot base who refuses to even acknowledge orders. Complete waste of a spark, if ya ask me. Always listen to yer elders, young man."

"Y-yes, sir..." stammered Joshua, hardly believing he was having a conversation with a giant robot from space. They continued to walk, Ratchet having just barely fit into the hallways of the huge corporation. They reached Sumdac's private lab and Joshua gave Ratchet a card with a code on it.

"Here, sir. I don't know this code off-hand. Dr. Sumdac says it's temporary and only you may see it. I'll be waiting out here for you, just down the hall. Please be careful in there; the doctor keeps a lot of valuable stuff in there."

"I understand, Joshua. I'm very protective with my own medical lab as well. No one is allowed in it unless there's an emergency. Thanks." He took the card and watched Joshua scamper away before punching in the code.

'Heh...good kid,' he thought as the door slid open and let him in. He walked in and looked around. It was incredibly dark, save for a few glowing wires and blank screens. He walked in cautiously and called out,

"Hello? Anyone in here?"

"Yes," came the slow, calm answer as the door slammed shut, locking the medic in. Several of the wires and screens in the room suddenly grew brighter and slowly illuminated the severed, functioning head of Lord Megatron, feared Leader of the Decepticons.

Ratchet gasped and stepped back instinctively, hardly believing what he was seeing. He ran to the door and began to pound on it desperately, screaming for Joshua to let him out. Megatron, however, had other plans. Using his telekinetic powers, he directed several thick, strong wires in Ratchet's direction, wrapping around him and carrying him over to the head of Megatron. Ratchet kicked and struggled, but it was to no avail.

"Well, well," said Megatron, "look what I've caught. My very own doctor."

"How in the Matrix...when did...where...WHAT?!" cried the defenseless doctor, unable to process what he was seeing. Megatron shook him for a moment, then yelled,

"SILENCE!" Ratchet obeyed, terrified and angry about being duped like this. He tried his best to keep his systems cool, but Megatron knew better.

"Are you frightened, little Autobot? You did not expect to see me here, now did you? Of course not! You're going to help me 'blow some steam', as the flesh creatures say."

"I ain't helping you with nothin'," growled the medic angrily.

"Oh," said Megatron, "but you are." He controlled the wires to send Ratchet against a wall before lifting him back up and dumping him into Megatron's newest and most secret invention, well-hidden behind Sumdac's many obsolete inventions he'd forgotten about.

"This," he announced proudly, "is a bio scanner. I'm going to scan your entire system and collect all your data: your personality, your likes, dislikes, habits, knowledge, memories...everything. And when I'm done, you'll return home and recharge like nothing ever happened. When I dump you outside, you will have a memory of talking to Isaac Sumdac, agreeing to his animatronic proposal, and building the first puppet in your image. You will be working on the puppet in this lab, but in a room where you will never see me. You will not remember my presence here at all."

"NO!" cried the medic. "Don't do this!"

"Too late," laughed Megatron, "it's already done." The bio scanner knocked the medic out and retrieved everything from him, not missing a single thing. When it was done, Megatron controlled his wires and carried the medic back to the door, unlocking it and dropping him out. The door slammed shut and locked itself again, snapping Ratchet back online. He jumped up and looked around, scanning his surroundings, then tried to think back.

"I...agreed to...I agreed to work on some crazy project," he said to himself as Megatron's brainwashing program told him everything he needed to know. He called for Joshua, who came running and was incredibly surprised to see that the meeting was already over.

"It was a good idea," said Ratchet. "I agreed to it right away."

"Oh," said Joshua, who found it very odd that the Autobot had only been in the lab for ten minutes, but he said nothing more about it. He led Ratchet out again and watched him transform and head home. Joshua shrugged and walked to his car and began his own journey home.

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I'm glad people like it so far! Reviews are really helpful ways to let writers know you like it. If I'd received no reviews, I probably would have taken the story down. So thanks to the reviewers and those of you that added this story to you faves and alerts!!

-Juana


	5. Secrets

**Disclaimer: Quick reminder that I do not own any faction of Transformers. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fan fiction, now would I?

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**Five: Secrets**

Ratchet's arrival home so soon had everyone a little uneasy, especially Bumblebee, who had expected the doctor to be out for some time. He tried to make himself smaller on the couch beside Prime, but Ratchet wasn't stupid. He reached over the back of the couch and grabbed Bumblebee's shoulder.

"Where's that report, soldier?" he said, looking Bumblebee straight in the eye.

"I...uh... didn't do it?" answered Bumblebee, knowing full well this answer was going to get him in even more trouble than ever before.

"Ya didn't do it. I gave you a direct order, and you didn't obey it. Well, you know what this means: Prowl, for the next three weeks, he's yours."

"Wonderful," answered the ninja, who didn't sound excited but the grin on his face said otherwise. "We'll start with grass growing, then human evolution, and so on."

"NOOO!" shouted Bumblebee, terrified at the very idea of watching television for the purpose of learning. Optimus laughed and said,

"Come on, Ratchet, don't you think that's a bit harsh?" Ratchet, for the first time, gave Optimus a smack on the head and said,

"You listen to me, young 'bot. I don't care if you're the leader of this sorry bunch, or if you went to some fancy school for so-called heroes-in-training, or if you're related to the original Optimus Prime: you're still young, you're still stupid, and your leadership skills are going to the scrapheap. Let me tell you something: when someone else gives an order and you know damn well that order is necessary, you never, EVER contradict that person, or their judgment. It's disrespectful and it hurts everyone on the team. Bumblebee," he snapped, turning his attention back to the smallest Autobot, "march to your room and write that damn report or so help me I'll take you back to whichever boot camp you were sent from. I want that report done tomorrow. You'll also start with Prowl tomorrow. Sari will not be allowed in here for three weeks."

The entire room was silent, save for the movie that was playing. Ratchet looked at each Autobot in the eyes and each looked back at him timidly, each afraid he would go off on them as well.

"Bulkhead," he said to the largest Autobot who jumped a foot in the air, "turn down that racket. It's too loud."

"Y-yes, sir," answered the timid 'bot, grabbing the remote control and turning down the television's volume.

"Prowl!"

"...Yes?"

"You're sittin' too close too that stupid thing. Scoot back!"

Prowl quickly scooted away from the television, having developed a bad habit of sitting on the floor and close to the screen to ensure he saw every little thing that happened.

"Bumblebee."

"What," said Bumblebee defiantly, crossing his arms angrily and glowering at the doctor.

"Get to your room. NOW."

"Fine. Whatever," he grumbled, getting up and marching to his room in the worst mood he'd ever been in.

"Prime," the doctor said, finally ending his rant, it seemed, "you need to work on your leadership skills. Get off your aft, go to your office and think about this whole situation."

"Ratchet, I don't think you have the right to—"

"I worked with your Grandfather in the war. He was the best damn leader I ever knew, and even Megatron himself respected him. You, my boy, do not live up to your name."

Optimus' face fell; he could almost feel his spark shattering. He'd heard many negative things about him in his life, but this...this just stung so much more than all those things put together. Ratchet gave them one more annoyed look, then walked off to his lab to begin the blueprints for the puppet he was going to build.

The three Autobots watched him leave, then, when he was out of range, Prowl got off the floor and said quietly,

"Since I'll be spending the next three weeks with him, I'm going to go talk to Bumblebee. I'll help him with this report."

"Oh...right. Good...good," said Prime dully. It was clear he was hurting inside.

"Hey," said Prowl, placing a hand on Prime's shoulder, "It's okay. I think you're a wonderful leader. Ratchet's just being Ratchet. He's an old man, it's what they do."

"Yeah..." said Prime, unconvinced, "yeah. Old."

"I'll go talk to Bumblebee," repeated Prowl. He patted Prime's back and walked silently to Bumblebee's room. He knocked a few times, then waited.

"What?!" Bumblebee yelled. He didn't sound good at all.

"It's just me," Prowl said quietly. "I just want to talk, and maybe help you with that report."

"I don't need help, Prowl. I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine."

"Yeah, well, I am. Just leave me alone. And don't pull any of that ninja crap on me!"

"Like what?" Prowl asked, keeping all judgment and attitude out of his tone.

"Like sneaking in here through the ceiling or something crazy like that. I hate when you do that."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I won't do it if it bothers you. But I really must insist you open the door. I just want to talk, that's all. We're all upset with Ratchet right now, and it's not a bad thing to talk openly about it."

"...Fuck it," Bumblebee growled, using the human expletive his team mates didn't know and couldn't yell at him for using. He opened the door and looked at his team mate angrily. Prowl looked very calm and reserved, and he said nothing. He did, however, give Bumblebee a rare, concerned little smile. Bumblebee searched his face for anything negative, then said,

"All right, come in. Just don't tell Ratchet."

"I won't," replied the ninja, who closed the door behind him quietly. They both walked across the room, and sat on the recharge berth. Prowl looked around and could see that Bumblebee's love for human culture went beyond just hanging out with Sari and watching television. He had posters, action figures, movies and cartoon DVDs all over the place, as well as clothing that would never fit him. There were even fashion and women's health magazines on the floor that would never benefit the little 'bot.

"You seem to have made your room very...human-like," he said in disbelief. Bumblebee answered,

"Well, yeah. I didn't really have any of my own stuff except a poster and a music disc of my favorite music group back home, but other than that, nothing. But it's cool, because I really like human stuff."

"Indeed. Let's work on that report, shall we? What did he want it to be about?"

"Uh...I think...oh, right. My behavior. Apparently he wants me to think of 'solutions' for it. Whatever the frag that means."

"There's no need to swear."

"Haven't you ever been angry even a day in your life?"

"Of course. I just find different ways to deal with it, as you already know. Meditation, stillness...all the 'hippie' solutions, as the humans would say. Now, come on. How would you begin this?"

"I don't know. How would you?"

"Well," said Prowl, "I guess I would start with analyzing my own behavior. So, tell me about yours."

"I'm me," Bumblebee said, crossing his arms. "Simple as that. I act the way I feel, and I feel happy most of the time. Does he want me to be sad and act like it all day? Just mope around all day?"

"I doubt he wants you to be sad all the time. I think it's just that, because of his age, he tends to get aggravated easily. You find my behavior annoying at times, don't you?"

"Well...yeah."

"Okay, good. So let's go from there." Bumblebee nodded and began to write his thoughts down.

* * *

Ratchet was in his less-than-perfect med bay, trying to figure out how to make this animatronic puppet idea to work, and as he did so, he also thought about his own behavior that evening.

'What got into me?' he wondered as he drew up plans for the puppet's shell, 'Why did I yell at them? I mean, they're all just younglings, and they don't have any other older 'bot to look to for help. They're all going to hate me now. You stupid old man.'

He threw down his writing utensil and left his med bay in search of Optimus, who deserved an apology. He passed Bulkhead on the way and said,

"Hey, big guy. I'm sorry about my outburst before. I don't know what got into me."

"Oh...right. Sure thing, doc. I, uh...thanks." Bulkhead didn't seem to believe him, and Ratchet didn't blame him at all.

"Well, sorry again, kid." And he left, resuming his search for Prime. He passed by Bumblebee's room, and decided to apologize to him later. He heard another voice in the room and recognized it as Prowl's.

'He must be helpin' the kid with that report. Might as well leave 'em alone,' he thought as he continued in his search for Prime. He reached his leader's door and knocked, but did not receive an answer. He tried again, but still no answer. Either Prime was in recharge, too upset to answer, or killing himself. And Ratchet was pretty sure the upset leader was ignoring him for the time being.

'No matter,' he thought. 'This is only natural. I just wish I hadn't been so hard on him.'

"Optimus," he called, trying one last time, "It's Ratchet. I just want to apologize." He heard some shuffling, then the door opened. Prime looked very upset, and a little scared, but he let the medic in. Ratchet took a seat in front of Prime's desk, surprised by the very sudden change in the commander's workplace. He had seen the place many times before, and had commented to Prime about how a good leader always kept his space clean and easily accessible. Now, instead of the usual mess of stacked educational chips, videos about the war and data pads full of notes, there was...almost nothing.

The chips had been filed away neatly, the data pads had been placed somewhere on a shelf, the videos had their own little place to stay. All that was left out in the open was Prime's computer, one lonely data pad, writing utensils and a self-help data chip on good leadership.

Ratchet was shocked at how seriously Prime had taken his words. He looked into the younger 'bot's eyes and said,

"I'm sorry about the way I acted, Prime. I really don't know what came over me, I had no reason to talk to you like that. Prime?"

Optimus was quiet for a moment, considering his words, then said,

"I needed it, Ratchet. I hated every nano-click of it, and I didn't want to hear it, but I needed it. I'm...it helped me see how much a worthless loser I am, and I have to shape up if I want to be like my Grandfather."

"Don't call yourself 'worthless'," Ratchet said gruffly. Prime winced.

"Optimus, don't call yourself worthless. Say it. Say 'I am not worthless'."

"No," answered Optimus. "No, I can't say it until it's true. I'm sorry, Ratchet."

"Don't apologize, Optimus. It's normal to feel useless. I used to be like that, back in the war. Eventually you learn that it's all in your head and you get over it."

"Hmm."

"I didn't want to make you feel like a 'worthless loser', because you aren't one. I shouldn't have said what I did, and you need to hear that."

"It's okay, Doc. It's all right."

"Are you gonna be okay, Prime?"

"I'm fine. Really. I just need some time to think and read."

"Well...all right, Prime. Just...know that I really am sorry about this whole thing." Optimus nodded and said,

"It's okay." Ratchet got out of his seat and opened his mouth to say one last thing, then decided against it. It would be redundant to tell Prime he wasn't worthless if he wasn't going to believe it. The medic gave Optimus one last small smile, then left the room, closing the door carefully and quietly behind him.

Once alone, Prime placed the self-help data chip into his computer's drive and began to read all the information about being a better leader. It broke his spark to hear he was bad at what he did, and he refused to continue being an incompetent leader.

Ratchet walked back toward his med bay, unsure of what he would do when he got there. He was too angry at himself to work on the blueprints, but he knew he had to get to work. At least, that was what Megatron's programming was telling him he had to do. Ratchet walked past Bumblebee's room again and could still hear Prowl helping him write the report. While the report was just a test in Bumblebee's ability to follow orders and held no real value, it was, despite it's uselessness, a good way to teach the younger 'bots that they were going to face consequences for 'bad' behavior.

The doctor decided not to intrude on them, knowing full well that Bumblebee's anger would only rise again, making it impossible for him to finish the report. He didn't even expect the report to be long, and he wasn't going to make it into a bigger deal than it already was.

Unbeknownst to him, or the other Autobots, Megatron watched, fascinated by the doctor's outburst at his team, especially Optimus. He watched, also trying to understand why Ratchet had lashed out at them. It didn't seem unlike him to do so, but it was also odd that he had targeted Prime in his anger with Bumblebee. Megatron began to think: he had not yet really decided what he would do with the puppet, expect that he wasn't going to release it to the public.

Megatron was angry. He was angry that he had no body, angry at StarScream for being the reason for his current situation sans body, and angry that his enemies at the moment were these pathetic Autobots who couldn't get along. He wanted someone to punish, to hurt in order to feel better. And as he thought, he knew exactly who he was going to take his anger out on.

* * *

**Oh, geez...It's going to get real ugly soon, kiddies. Hope everyone is doing well and are safe! **


	6. Puppet

**Hello again! Thanks for your patience and reviews/adds/alerts/ etc...! I'm pleased people like this story. It's not perfect, it's not realistic, but hey, it's a fanfic. No rules for that now, are there? Hehehe...All right, kids. Stay on the lookout for chapter seven! Coming soon to a moniter near you!**

**-Juana**

**Six: Puppet**

The next morning, at least by human standards, Ratchet left the base carrying a single data chip and his Cybertronian portable computer containing his blueprints. Everyone else in the base, save for Optimus, was in recharge. Prowl had fallen into recharge on Bumblebee's floor, while Bumblebee had fallen into recharge on his berth. Ratchet knew this because he decided to peek in and see if they were okay. Upon finding them asleep, he chuckled slightly and left a note for them, stating he would be home around the earth hour of six o'clock.

Professor Sumdac had left his house an hour earlier than Ratchet had left the base, and so arrived sooner. He typed in the code to his private lab and greeted Megatron, who said,

"Good morning, you pathetic human."

"...What? OH!" Megatron controlled the same wires he'd used with Ratchet and threw the human into the bio scanner.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" he cried, never having witnessed such violence from his supposed 'friend' before. Megatron laughed wickedly and hissed,

"You're a fool. I am Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, Enemy of the Autobots. You pathetic human. But you will not remember any of this in a moment." The scientist screamed as the bio scanner closed and scanned his entire brain for knowledge, personality, memories, everything, storing it into a file only accessible to Megatron. While it scanned, it downloaded a program into Sumdac's brain; a program that molded him for what Megatron wanted him to do. The Decepticon released the scientist, who instantly had no recollection of what had just happened. The program went right to work, telling him that Ratchet was never to see Megatron or know of his presence in the lab.

Sumdac smiled at Megatron and said,

"I'll make sure your friend doesn't see you like this, Megatron. You can count on me."

"Oh, I know I can," said Megatron as nicely as he could muster. If he'd still had a mouth, he would have grinned an evil grin at the success of his plan thus far. Even he was surprised at well smoothly it was going. All he had to do was wait for Ratchet, and in a few days, the first, and possibly only, puppet would be ready for action.

As Sumdac prepared the other side of the lab for Ratchet, Megatron waited in excitement, wishing he had his body again just so he could celebrate. But he would have to wait on that. He played around with the wires for a few minutes before he heard Ratchet arrive on the other side of the lab. He dropped the wires and listened carefully, eager to hear every little word the medic said.

On the other side, Ratchet opened up his portable computer ("you have laptops on your planet?") and placed the data chip in. Instantly, several hundred images popped up in thin air, sending the little human scientist toppling over in amazement. He stared into the beautiful images, hardly believing his eyes. Ratchet, however, seemed unfazed and said,

"Here's the blueprints for the puppet, Professor. Your intern, whom I would like to adopt by the way, said you had all the necessary tools and materials I would need to build this thing."

"I will not be able to let you adopt Joshua," laughed the scientist, "but I do have the materials you need. Come, follow me." Sumdac led Ratchet to his small storage closet, filled with mechanical junk. Ratchet gave the professor a somewhat disgruntled look, then said,

"And how am I s'pposed to navigate through all this slaggin' junk?"

"'Slagging'?" asked Sumdac, cocking his head to the side. Ratchet did a quick internal search on the internet, then said,

"It's our way of saying 'fucking' or 'shit'."

"...Oh. Uh...well, I have some of my robo-drones here to help you pick through everything. The tools are more readily accessible," he added as he clapped his hands and several drones zipped up to them.

"Please start going through this mess and arrange everything in neat piles according to size," he told them before leading Ratchet to the tools.

"Over here I have basic tools, such as hammers and drills, as well as some things I've only recently developed." He pointed to something that looked like a hair-dryer. Ratchet picked the object up and turned it on. A thin, red line emitted from it, making a sound not unlike hovering.

"Er...what is it?"

"It is a laser! A real laser, which can cut through metal!" said the Professor, clearly excited by his feat. Ratchet didn't have the heart to tell him he had his own personal set of lasers, and would be using them for the project. Professor Sumdac continued to show Ratchet the rest of the tools, as well as a small tour of the area he would be using to build the animatronic puppet. When he was done, he let Ratchet get to work.

"I shall be in my office. If you need assistance, the drones can help you, or you may call me," he handed Ratchet a card and said, "This has my extension number on it. Just dial it into any telephone and it will reach me. I may not answer all the time, however; I am very busy."

"I understand. Thanks, Professor. I'm sure I'll get this done soon."

"...Soon? Surely this is—"

"Pretty easy," interrupted ratchet. "Building the shell is how we continue our race. Like you humans need to reproduce, so do we. We build 'em, and then we spark 'em. Easy procedure, really. I've done it thousands of times."

"You...have? So this isn't—"

"Nothin' to worry about, Professor. Might take a little longer with your antiquated stuff, but I can manage."

"Oh...very well, then. Um, good luck, then." Sumdac waved and left the room, leaving Ratchet alone to get started. Ratchet gave the tools one last, hopeless look before activating his own internal tools, knowing full well they would work far better than those obsolete, clunky human tools. Sighing, he got to work.

Eight hours later, Ratchet picked up a phone and dialed Sumdac's extension number.

"Hello? Oh! Yes, hello, my friend." Ratchet couldn't help but smile at the little human's enthusiasm—he liked that it was evident in his voice without seeing it.

"Hi there, Professor. It's done."

"...DONE? Are you...you're positive?"

"Yep. All done, all ready to go. Only thing it doesn't have and won't have is a spark."

"Spark?"

"Life force."

"Ah. I see. May I come down to see it?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Wonderful! I shall be there momentarily," and Sumdac hung up. Ratchet hung up his phone and smiled. Humans were easily amused. He looked at the puppet and sighed. The thing was like him in appearance in every way: it was his height, his build, it even featured an animatronic face, capable of pulling several different expressions. Ratchet had even installed a voice box into it, downloading his own vocals into it to make it more realistic. The more he looked at it, the more it bothered him.

A cough behind him startled him. Ratchet turned around, expecting to see Sumdac there, but there was no one there. He called out,

"Hello? Anybody there?"

Almost as if it were a response, a greenish glow waned and grew consistently in the part of the lab Ratchet was not to use. Then, a choked voice moaned,

"H-help...muh-meee...p-puh-please..." Ratchet, being the Autobot he was, stepped cautiously toward the glow and the apparently suffering individual. At one point, he stopped, remembering that he was not to go beyond his workspace. But again the individual moaned,

"P-please...he's keeping me prisoner...h-help me..." Ratchet, suddenly feeling more heroic than usual, continued and walked right into the wires.

"Hello? Can you hear—oh Primus..." he gasped as he set his optics on the head of Megatron a second time, unaware of their previous encounter. The wires he stood on came to life and grabbed him, lifting him upside-down in the air. He dangled before Megatron's optics, who said in Cybertronian,

"Hello again, Doctor."

"Again? When—"

"Only last night, my friend. I wiped your memory of the incident, of course. Couldn't have you blabbing about me to your Autobot friends, now could I. Now then, on to business. I thank you for building that puppet for me. As you may have noticed, I have no body of my own. But I can use your puppet as a surrogate body for now. I won't be able to leave this place myself, not yet, but I can travel through the puppet. All I need to do is download you into it. Only, I shall be in control."

"You slaggin', worthless—"

"Now, now, I thought you'd have learned not to use such insults after last night, what with your outburst at Prime's grandson."

"How do you know about that?!"

"I have a video feed linked from your base to me. I see all." Ratchet recalled the day Sumdac had requested to install cameras into the base.

"He—you...he's...GAH!" he yelled into Megatron's face. Megatron merely chuckled and replied,

"No, Doctor, Sumdac is not in on my plan. This was all me, with some help from the human fool. He does not know what he has done."

"But..."

"Silence, fool, or I'll kill the human. He has a child, does he not? I'll make her an orphan if you utter another word. Now, then..." Megatron controlled a hand-like clamp to carefully retrieve a chip from the bio scanner. He passed the chip from clamp to clamp, all the way over to the puppet, where he installed it in the thing. He waited a moment, and then laughed when it came to life.

"Last night, Doctor," Megatron explained, "I had the human call you over here to discuss the plans with you. Of course, neither of you actually met. I simply downloaded the conversations into your minds. You both think the same thing happened. I made a copy of your entire system and downloaded it, as you just witnessed, into your puppet. The human is on his way here now, thanks to you. If you make a single sound, I will kill him and then go kill your Autobot team."

Ratchet shot Megatron a dirty look, but kept his vocals to himself. Megatron stuffed him inside the bio scanner and closed the lid, hiding Ratchet from anyone who would come into the lab. He could only listen to the next thing that happened.

There was a hissing at the door on the other side of the lab, and Sumdac entered. He looked at the puppet and called out,

"Ratchet? Hello?" Megatron called out,

"I'm afraid he just left, Isaac. One of the Autobots called him, something about a team crisis. He had to go immediately, but I could tell he was upset that he had to go."

"Oh, dear," sighed Sumdac. "That is too unfortunate. But the animatronic puppet is wonderful! It looks just like him! Does it speak, too?" Megatron's optics lit up, surging power into the puppet, which responded,

"I am fully functional," in Ratchet's voice and manner. Sumdac clapped his hands and said,

"Marvelous! Amazing! I've never witnessed such mastery before! I must call Ratchet tomorrow to praise his hard work! My goodness...! Oh dear," he said sullenly as his pager went off, "I have yet another catastrophe to attend to. Another one of my robots has gone haywire. I must go my friend, but I shall return, I promise."

"I know you will," said Megatron. Sumdac left in hurry, leaving Megatron with Ratchet and the puppet. Megatron cast his gaze on the real Ratchet and said,

"Watch this." His optics lit up again, and the puppet responded. It walked around the room, tried out some of its weapons and even did a few back flips. Ratchet was shocked at what Megatron could get the thing to do.

"And this isn't even the half of it," commented Megatron. The puppet suddenly walked toward the door and let itself out.

"I have established an audio-visual link with the puppet," said Megatron. I know where it's going, I hear everything being said."

Ratchet said nothing, too afraid to protest.

"And the best part," grinned Megatron, "is that you get to witness me ruin you! HAHAHAHAHA!" The television screen Megatron had in front of him switched to a video link that showed the world through the puppet's optics.

Ratchet's eyes grew wide as he watched the Decepticon revel in the success of his wicked plan.

* * *

Hmmm...I really hope no one has done this kind of story before. I haven't read a lot of TF fanfiction so I don't really know if I'm writing anything over-done. Hope not! anyways, chapter seven is where it gets crazy. -Juana 


	7. The Nightmare Cometh

**All righty, here's where it gets a little confusing. The puppet itself is not Ratchet, it's Megatron controlling it. I really hope no one gets uber confused. Some of the writing here may be a little obvious and unnecessary, but there's always someone out there that doesn't get it. No biggie. So, enjoy, and take it slow.**

**AUTHOR'S WARNING!!! This is where it starts to get violent and a bit creepy. IF YOU ARE EASILY TRIGGERED, DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER. Thank you. **

**-Juana**

**Seven: The Nightmare Cometh**

Megatron controlled the puppet through the series of hallways and a lobby filled with humans, who all looked up at him with smiles on their faces.

"Hello, sir!" said Joshua the intern, who waved happily. Megatron made the puppet wave back and say cheerfully,

"Hello, Joshua. Having a good day, I trust?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. You're a good kid, remember that."

"Thank you, sir!" Megatron felt disgusted with himself, never being one to hand praise out like they were orders. But he knew he had to stay in character as best he could without bringing any negative attention to himself. He continued on and walked past many people, most of which smiled and waved, or said 'hello'. He hurried along, trying to get to the Autobot base as fast as he could.

When he reached the road, he made the puppet transform—something Ratchet had not put into the design at all, and took off.

"How—"

"I downloaded it into the machine," answered Megatron. "Now silence." The puppet took off down the road in the direction of the base. The location of the Autobot base had been downloaded from Ratchet's memory chip, making it easy to get there. The puppet transformed back to robot mode and walked calmly into the base.

"NO!" cried Ratchet, watching in horror. "Don't go in there! I beg of you, don't hurt them!"

"I intend to hurt only one of them," said Megatron coolly.

"I swear, if you...that...Megapuppet touches any one of them, I'll kill you!" Ratchet screamed, despite knowing his threat was empty.

"Megapuppet...hmm...not very clever, but usable," said Megatron. "That's what it shall be called between us from now on. Megapuppet..."

Megapuppet continued toward the base and finally entered, tapping in the code Megatron had retrieved from Ratchet's data banks to gain access. It stepped into the base and looked around. Upon seeing no one, it walked forward until it spotted Bulkhead sitting on the floor, continuing his attempt at fine art with his bricks.

"Still workin' on that...thing, soldier?" Bulkhead looked at Ratchet, a.k.a. Megapuppet and said,

"Oh, uh...yes, sir. Just trying to get the composition just right..."

"Nice work. Where's Bumblebee?"

"Thanks. Um...I think he's in his room."

"Thanks." Megapuppet walked over to Bumblebee's room and knocked sharply on the door. A few seconds went by without an answer, but then the door opened up slowly. Bumblebee peeked out and said tonelessly,

"Oh. Hi." Megapuppet pushed past him and entered the room, surprised to see Prowl was still there.

"Why are you still in here, youngling? Go to your own room, now." Prowl protested and said,

"I was simply assisting Bumblebee with—"

"NOW." Prowl winced and got off the berth and walked out, giving Bumblebee a nervous glance. Megapuppet waited for the ninja to be out of range, then said,

"Come with me to the med bay. I wanna talk to you about your behavior."

"AGAIN? Come on, just leave me alone already!" Megapuppet grabbed Bumblebee's arm roughly and pulled him to the med bay itself, Megatron deciding that the adolescent 'bot wasn't going to listen to him unless you used force. He dragged the struggling Autobot to the med bay and, checking to make sure no one had followed them, closed the door quietly.

"You're going to love this," said Megatron to Ratchet. "This is the fun part."

"Please, don't hurt him. Don't...don't...what are you gonna do?!"

"You'll see."

Megapuppet slammed Bumblebee against a wall and leaned in close to his audio receptors. Bumblebee cried out as he hit his head against the wall, reaching a hand back to rub the pain out. Megapuppet slapped his cheek and growled,

"You are a worthless, pathetic little slagger, Bumblebee. I want you to know that. You're loud, obnoxious, rude, stupid and immature, and I can't stand even a moment around you." It gripped Bumblebee's shoulders tightly, hurting the little 'bot immensely.

"Ow! Ratchet, stop!"

"No," growled the Ratchet replica, "I will not stop. You've earned this little punishment." Megatron located one of Ratchet's surgical lasers, used much like a human scalpel, and had Megapuppet bring it close to Bumblebee's face.

"See this?" he whispered in the Autobot's audio receptors harshly. "This is a laser-cutter. Used to cut through Autobot hides for operations. Without proper pain relievers, this little thing can really sting."

Megapuppet grabbed Bumblebee's right wrist and lifted it up, just over his head, exposing the underside of his upper arm. Bumblebee realized what it was going to do, and tried to kick the puppet off.

"STOP IT!" he screamed. "PRIME! PROWL! HELP!" He received a smart smack to the face and a knee to his abdomen. He nearly doubled over, but Megapuppet held him in place.

"Shut your mouth, little Bee," it hissed threateningly, "or I'll just kill you right now." Bumblebee shut his mouth and gave the puppet the saddest optics he'd ever given in his life. All it earned him was another crack across the face.

"Now sit still while I punish you," Megapuppet said as it pushed its weight into Bumblebee, preventing any movement. Gripping his wrist hard against the wall, Megatron's puppet carefully carved a few lines into the underside of Bumblebee's upper arm. Bumblebee whimpered and shuddered as he experienced a level of pain he'd never been exposed to before. He held in his cries; the pain was so bad, so intense...

"This," said the puppet casually, "is to remind you of how worthless you are. Every time you step out of line, or whenever I feel like it, I'm going to punish you. And you deserve every bit of it." The puppet then dabbed away at the fluid leaking from the wounds with an oily cloth and snapped,

"And if you ever, EVER tell anyone, be it Prime, Prowl, Bulkhead or a human, I'll kill that little girl you always spend your time with."

"What? No, you can't!" Bumblebee sobbed, trying to push the puppet over, "Ratchet, you can't do this!"

"Oh, but I just did. Now, if you want your friend to live, I suggest you keep your damn mouth shut. Make up a good lie for those cuts, too. If any of the Autobots suspects me, I'll kill him and the girl. Got it?"

"...I..."

"GOT IT?"

"...Y-yes, sir..."

"Good boy. Now, get outta here. And tell no one." Bumblebee gave him one last desperately frightened look, then ran off, trying his best to hide his tears, letting them out only when he reached his room. When he was gone, the puppet stood still and did nothing. In Sumdac's lab, Ratchet looked up with a horrified face at Megatron, who laughed and said,

"I feel so much better. Wasn't that fun, little Ratchet?"

"You...you monster..." Ratchet stammered angrily. "How...how DARE you do that to him...He's just a kid..."

"An annoying little Autobrat, if you ask me. And now, this is for you: if you manage to break out of here, I will kill that human that's keeping me here, and the Autobrat. Would you like that?"

"You sicken me, Decepticon."

"I know I do," replied Megatron with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Have you any idea how long I've wanted to punish someone? If StarScream were here, I'd happily destroy him. But seeing as he's disappeared for a while, I had to find an alternative. Your Autobrat was the perfect target."

"You can't do this," pleaded Ratchet desperately, "Please...I'm begging you now."

"And it's pathetic," Megatron spat. "You know as well as I that it's going to continue until I get my own body back, and you're going to build it for me. The human scientist leaves every night around the earth hour of eleven. He returns at the earth hour of eight. You have nine hours each night to work on my new body."

"And where the frag am I hidin' this so-called body?"

"There is a space large enough to accommodate it in the back. Right behind you," he added. Ratchet turned around to see what Megatron was talking about. Sure enough, there was a section of the lab that seemed it had never been used for anything other than storage space. The medic turned back slowly and said,

"...What's going to be your first move after you get your body back?"

"Destroy this laboratory and all its inhabitants."

"Of course . . . of course. You're pathetically predictable, Megatron. Always were."

"Yes, yes. I should probably warn you: I'm not going to kill you or hurt you in any way unless you need a reminder of who is in charge. Each time you piss me off, I will simply take it out on the Autobrat. I'll let it slide now, since you did not know. But just know that everything you say meant to infuriate me will result in punishment for Bumblebee." Ratchet wanted to argue and attack, but he kept his mouth shut, instead taking a moment to slam his fist into the wall behind him furiously. Megatron laughed and said,

"So glad you're taking this so well." Ratchet could only give him the dirtiest look he could muster.

There came a sharp knock on his door, and he refused to answer until he knew who it was. Bumblebee sat on his floor, ripping apart the useless clothing he'd collected and trying to fashion it into a homemade giant sweater. He was so terrified for Sari's safety that he was willing to do anything, even wear human clothing to hide his new wounds, to protect her.

"Bumblebee? Open up, it's me, Prowl."

"Uh...c-come in..." The ninja opened the door and stepped in. The first thing he said when he saw what Bumblebee was doing was,

"Have you decided to leave the Cybertronians and join the humans?" He smiled, hoping the joke would make Bumblebee laugh, but he didn't get a response. It was unlike Bumblebee to not laugh at a joke of any kind, even bad ones. Concerned, Prowl stepped forward and tried to sit down next to the youngest Autobot, but Bumblebee scooted back and turned himself, insuring that Prowl wouldn't see the scars on his arm.

"Hey," said Prowl, "are you okay? What did Ratchet want?"

"N-nothing," Bumblebee lied, "nothing."

"Nothing, huh? Why are you trying to make Bumblebee-sized clothing?"

"I thought it would be fun," Bumblebee lied again. Prowl gave him a look that said 'I know you're lying to me', but he didn't say it. Instead, he said,

"Listen, if you ever need to talk, you know you can go to Prime. For anything. Or me, if you want to. I'm sure you've already heard this before, and you'll hear it for a long time, but you're at the age where you don't really know who you are yet. You're developing as an individual, which is why it's not that big a deal that you're experimenting with human fashion. Just—remember you can trust us. All of us."

"Yeah, right," Bumblebee snorted without realizing it.

"What?" said Prowl, caught off-guard by the nasty tone in Bumblebee's voice. "What does that mean?" Bumblebee suddenly realized what he'd said and lied,

"Nothing, nothing! I think it's just the...adolescent attitude in me."

"...Right," said Prowl suspiciously, "right." He patted Bumblebee on the back, who winced slightly at the touch, then said,

"I think you need some space, am I right? I'll be in my room if you need me, for anything. Okay, Bumblebee?"

"Um...yeah, sure. Cool. Thanks."

"All right, then. 'Bye, big guy." Bumblebee watched Prowl leave, and as soon as the door was closed, the little Autobot burst into tears again and sobbed so hard it hurt. His life had taken a turn for the worst, and he felt he only had himself to blame. Unknown to him, Prowl pressed his audio receptor against the door and listened, unsure of what could have happened to cause this sudden change in Bumblebee's personality. He decided to keep an extra close watch on the youngling and make note of any drastic changes in his behavior.

"Spyin' on your team mates now, Prowl?" The ninja jumped a foot in the air and nearly clocked who he believed to be Ratchet standing behind him. But before his hand could even hope to hit its target, the Megapuppet grabbed his wrist and threw him down to the floor violently. Prowl tried to get up, but the puppet pinned him down with his foot.

"Wha-WHOA! Ratchet, where did that come?!" The Megapuppet looked down at its victim, then smiled and reached out a hand to help him back up.

"Gotcha," he laughed, "Never thought I'd ever be able to pull a fast one on you, 'ninja-'bot'."

"Right. Good job. Now, do you know what's wro—" He stopped himself mid-sentence, realizing there was a chance that if his suspicions were correct, he'd only be making Bumblebee's life harder. But the puppet looked at him with interest and asked,

"Yes? What is it?"

"Um..." Prowl needed a lie, and he needed it NOW. "Um...it's...embarrassing, um..." He leaned in and whispered the most humiliating thing he could think of pertaining to his body. He wanted to protect Bumblebee if he could, and he hoped to Primus 'Ratchet' would buy it.

"Oh. I see. Well, let's go down to the med bay and take a look, shall we?" Prowl winced, hating himself for subjecting himself to this. But he complied and followed 'Ratchet' to the med bay, careful to not look back at Bumblebee's closed door one last time.

* * *

Ouch. This was one of those chapters that makes you feel sick. Hope everyone else is okay!

-Juana


	8. Theft

**WOO!! 700 hits in four days! You guys rock! Ah, okay. Now then, on to the story. Again, it's a little violent here, so PLEASE be careful. If you are easily triggered, stay away from this chapter. I noticed I hadn't been paying much attention to Ratchet building Megatrons's body, simply because I don't care that much about it. So, don't hate me for that. I have another story I want to work on, and I just want to finish this one. Cool. All right, go read. This is the long chapter. **

**REMEMBER TO EAT AND GO TO THE BATHROOM! **

**And hug your mom/dad/guardian. They'd like that very much.**

**-Juana

* * *

**

**Eight: Theft**

Nights passed. Ratchet worked slowly each night on Megatron's new body, angry, disgusted and humiliated. The Decepticon watched him throughout the night, carefully watching for any hint of sabotage in the body. So far, there were none. But that didn't mean it would stay that way.

Ratchet, normally a hard worker, paced himself and worked slowly and almost sluggishly. Megatron, impatient though he was, did not pester the medic. He wanted a good body, and decided it would be best to keep his rude comments to himself.

That didn't make Megatron pleasant during the day, however. Ratchet was kept hidden and silenced in the bio scanner, hidden behind piles of failed junk when Sumdac was in the lab, chattering away with Megatron. He was allowed out when the professor was out of the lab, and that was when he had to watch Megatron's puppet torturing Bumblebee. The puppet was easily controlled remotely, allowing Megatron to do whatever and say whatever he wished silently while the human was around.

It was not a happy situation. Ratchet cursed himself for falling into the trap, and cursed himself more when he saw what was happening to Bumblebee. It seemed a happy ending was not in order.

* * *

Days passed. Bumblebee, everyone noticed, had become very introverted and sad. He never spoke of why he was this way, despite Prime's best attempts to get him to come out of his shell. Bumblebee just whispered something having a lot on his mind and that he didn't want to talk about it. Prime had even gone to 'Ratchet', trying to get an opinion about the behavior. The Megapuppet simply said,

"He's just learning. That's what young kids do. You teach 'em, they learn. He's probably just rethinkin' his own unacceptable behavior the past few days and decided to change it. He's especially learning his lesson now that Prowl has him meditating and watching nature documentaries six hours each day. If he never wants that punishment again, he'll have learned his lesson this time around."

"But now he's acting like he hates the world. And us. I mean, every adolescent does that at some point, but it just...it feels different. It's like he's hiding something, like some awful secret. Do you think he likes a girl? Or maybe body image issues? I mean, he was freaking out about height a little while ago. Maybe that's the problem."

"Could be," said 'Ratchet', shrugging. "I'll talk to him if you want."

"Might be a good idea," said Prime, unaware of what was going on right under his nose. "Yeah, why not. You know more about stuff like this. Thanks, Ratchet."

"Sure thing," said 'Ratchet', smiling. "In fact, I'll go find him now. You go on and do your own work, youngling. I know for a fact you still have some reading to do."

"Oh, right. Thanks, Ratch'." The puppet waved, watched the leader of the Autobots leave, then set off towards Bumblebee's room.

"Ah," said Megatron, glancing over at his slave in the corner of the Sumdac lab, "I was hoping to spend some time with the youngling today. I think I'll try something new." The real Ratchet reached forward, grabbed Megatron's stand and begged,

"Please, Megatron, don't hurt him! He's getting sick! I'm watching him die! He won't take any energon, he won't recharge... he won't even leave his room without Prime or Prowl there! He's not himself, he doesn't deserve this! He's going to develop and release a virus into his own system if you don't stop this!"

"Oh, I know that. I just like having someone to take my stresses out on. He's a very easy target."

"PLEASE! DON'T HURT HIM!" Ratchet cried one last time before a surge of burning energy singed his hands. He jumped back and sobbed silently, unable to watch the next episode of abuse.

The puppet knocked on Bumblebee's door, and, as it had become a habit, Bumblebee answered obediently and quietly, now wearing his Frankenstein sweater, covering all his new dents, scars, slices and so forth. He feared the wrath he would endure if he tried to disobey or if anyone found out about his shameful secret, and so had learned quickly to comply with the one he feared. He wouldn't look into 'Ratchet's' eyes. The puppet smiled and said,

"I have a task for you to complete." It leaned in close and whispered the task into Bumblebee's audio receptors, who stepped back, looked his abuser in the face and whispered,

"No! He'll kill me! And he's been really nice to me too!"

"Don't back-sass me, youngling. Do it or I'll hurt the girl." Bumblebee's shoulders dropped, along with his face. He felt sick, but what else could he do? He nodded and said,

"Okay. I'll do it. What are you gonna do if he catches me?"

"I'll let him deal with you his own way."

"Really?" Bumblebee's face lit up at this news. Anyone else's form of punishment was like getting a hug compared to what he'd been enduring lately. The look on 'Ratchet's' face told him he'd said the wrong thing. The puppet pushed him back into his room and closed the door. Neither of them saw Prowl, hidden at the top of a rafter, watching them. He jumped down silently and pressed his audio against the door and listened.

He had to clap his hand over his own mouth to prevent himself from crying out in protest to what he heard. Bumblebee's yelps, cries and sobs became quieter and quieter with each smack, kick and insult until he was a silent, twitching heap on the floor. Prowl heard the Megapuppet tell Bumblebee to clean up before performing his task so that no one suspected anything. Just before the door opened again, Prowl jumped back up to the rafter and hid himself.

His optics narrowed as he watched the 'medic' leave the youngling's room, an anger he had never felt before burning in his spark. He nearly went to go help Bumblebee, but stopped himself.

'No,' he thought, 'he needs to do this himself. He needs to tell us. I can't do this for him.' Prowl wanted to beat the hell out of himself for thinking it, but he knew Bumblebee was going to have to reach out for help. The ninja suddenly formulated a plan to get the younger 'bot to talk, but it would have to be carefully planned. He decided to wait for Bumblebee to leave his room; he needed to know what this 'task' was for.

Bumblebee left his room a few breems later, slightly limping and looking like he'd been broken into a million little pieces. Prowl had to stifle a sob of his own and followed the little 'bot towards his own room. Curious, he decided to watch it play out without interfering.

Bumblebee looked around cautiously, scared he would be caught and punished again. When it seemed the coast was clear, he opened the door and walked in.

"Prowl?" he called, "Are you in here?"

He received no answer, and so continued on into the room. Prowl followed silently, watching Bumblebee's every move, wondering what he possibly had that the 'medic' wanted so badly. Bumblebee walked around the room until he found what he was looking for: set carefully and neatly on the wall hung Prowl's shuriken collection. Bumblebee stared at them, almost in a daze before he reached out and gently touched one, just brushing his finger tips against it. He seemed frightened, as though being near them would bring pain.

He looked over his shoulder, sighed and gently pulled one off its hook in the wall, eyeing it slowly and fearfully before hiding it in his armor. Prowl watched with shock, not wanting to believe it. Ratchet had told Bumblebee to steal a shuriken from him? That made no sense! Bu then again, Ratchet beating the slag out of Bumblebee made no sense either. Prowl knew what he had to do.

Bumblebee left the room and closed the door, and began his long, tortuous journey to the med bay, where 'Ratchet' was waiting for him. The yellow Autobot knocked gently on the door and walked in slowly as soon as the door opened. The Megapuppet waited there, arms crossed and waiting to see whether the Autobot had done his assignment. Bumblebee took the shuriken out from under his armor and handed it to the imposter, terrified at what was to come.

In Sumdac's lab, Megatron giggled and said,

"This is going to be fun. I've never used one of those little things before. They're rather pretty, don't you think, doctor?"

"Megatron, you piece of scrap metal...I'll kill you for this."

"Of course you will. Now, let me have my fun."

It began. Megapuppet smacked Bumblebee across the face, grabbed the front of the sweater and hissed,

"Take this thing off. It's in my way." Bumblebee whimpered but did as he was told. He threw the sweater he'd made onto the examination table and waited for the next thing to happen. Megapuppet grabbed his shoulder and dragged him to the table.

"Get up there, and get that filthy human thing off my table." Bumblebee obeyed silently, throwing his sweater in the floor and away from 'Ratchet'. He lay down and dimmed his optics, scared and in pain. He waited...

Waited...

Waited...

And then...

He gasped as the sharp end of the shuriken was dragged across his chassis. He looked to see the damage and was devastated when he found 'Ratchet' was carving something into his metal skin. He winced and tried to keep his scream in, but within seconds of another slice, he cried out and allowed himself to cry in his abuser's presence.

"You worthless, pathetic brat," the puppet whispered as it cut again into the chassis. Bumblebee whimpered something inaudible, so the puppet leaned in closer and hissed,

"WHAT?" Bumblebee answered chokingly,

"W-why are you AUGH! S-still doing all th-th-ACH! this? I stopped b-being baaaaAAAUHd...!"

"Psh," huffed the puppet, "this is only the beginning, the prologue of this whole life-changing lesson for you, brat. It's time you started to understand that no one loves you, and no one would really even care even if they knew you were being hurt like this." He sliced again and again and again...

"W-what are—OW! y-you wr-writing on m-me...YIPE!"

"Sit up and you'll see for yourself." Bumblebee took a moment to sit up, but when he did, he nearly broke down when he saw it:

"WORTH."

"W-worth? You..."

"It's going to be 'WORTHLESS'. You get to finish it." A sudden silence lingered in the air as Bumblebee took 'Ratchet's' words in. He must have heard wrong...right?

"You...I...what?" he stammered, his lower lip quivering nervously, "I-I can't...I don't want to..."

"Too bad," replied the puppet, "you have to. Or I'll offline Prowl with it. Tonight."

"NO!" Bumblebee cried, grabbing the shuriken he'd stolen and pressed a blade against his chassis, next to the 'H'. He shuddered fearfully, shut his optics and made the first cut on himself. He winced and cried a little, then looked down. There was a jagged line running down his chassis, dripping, like the other marks, with oil. He shuddered again and finished what would be viewed as the 'L'.

"Good," said Megapuppet, "good boy. Keep going. You still have the 'E' and the two 'S's'. Hop to it or I'll kill the ninja."

"Y-yes, sir." Bumblebee continued, trying to keep his cries down to a minimum, but he couldn't help it. The pain was just too much for him to handle. He begged silently for someone to rescue him, for a savior...Optimus...Prowl...Primus, anyone...anyone?

His silent prayers went unheard as he finished the final letter. He gasped in painful relief, glad that the ordeal was over for now. He looked up sheepishly at the puppet and whispered,

"Is...is it okay? Do I do it...right?"

"Surprisingly, yes. Now clean yourself up and cover your ugly body up. Then go to your room. I don't want to see or hear you for the rest of the night. And hold on to that ninja weapon. If he notices it's gone, I want you to have it on you." Bumblebee nodded sadly and got off the table and located the same dirty towel he'd been using to clean his wounds with for the past few days and began to wipe the oil off, wincing every time he was too rough with the towel. He kept his optics downcast and tried his best to hide his tears, feeling more and more like a worthless, unloved failure with each passing nano-click.

Megatron watched the Autobot wipe off the oil leaking from his wounds and muted his link with the puppet for a moment to say to the imprisoned Ratchet,

"There, that wasn't so awful, now was it, doctor? The Autobrat is learning who is in charge, and he's developed a wonderful hatred for you! Perhaps now I'll be able to convince him to join my Decepticons."

"I hate you."

"I know, I know, we've established this, you senile old fool. Now shut up, I have to get back to work."

Turning his attention back to his wireless link and screen, Megatron returned to his victim.

"Bumblebee!" the Megapuppet yelled suddenly. The Autobot jumped a foot in the air and answered quietly,

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Tell that ninja that I want to see him. Send him down before you go to your room."

'Yes, sir. You aren't gonna hurt him, are you?"

"Go."

Bumblebee dropped his head and walked out nervously. He tried to think of something nice, something that didn't involve being cut or burned or hit, but nothing really came to mind. He passed by Prowl's room and, concealing the stolen item as best he could, knocked on the door.

It slid open instantly, and Prowl grabbed Bumblebee's shoulder and pulled him into his room. He closed the door quietly and ushered Bumblebee over to a far corner of the room. The youngest Autobot was surprised to see that Optimus Prime was there as well, and both of the older 'bots looked very upset.

"Um...I...I'm sorry..." Bumblebee whispered softly as he took out the shuriken. "I...I thought I saw you watching me, Prowl. I'm...I'm sorry I stole it." He hung his head in a defeated manner, trembling at the idea of being punished yet again. But no punishment came; instead, Prowl lifted Bumblebee's head up and said quietly,

"I already know what's going on. I just found out ten breems ago. But you, Bumblebee, need to say it yourself. You need to do this, for you. Don't worry about the consequences, you know Prime and I can handle the old man. Go ahead, say it. Prime doesn't know yet."

Bumblebee's eyes grew wide. Was he hearing the truth? Were his prayers being answered? For a moment, he couldn't do it; he couldn't speak. He stared almost blankly into their optics, unsure of whether or not this was some sick trick 'Ratchet' had set up for him. Was it? Prime looked terrified, while Prowl looked so caring...they were both so worried about him...

Bumblebee sighed and stammered,

"P-Prime...I...that is...R-Ratchet...he...Prowl, I can't do this!" he cried suddenly. He tried to run out, but Prowl grabbed him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"It's okay, Bee, it's all right. You need to say it. Go ahead."

"I...Prime...Ratchethurtsme!" As soon as he'd said it, he bawled into the ninja's chest, sobbing and babbling incoherently. Prowl held the little 'bot tightly, protecting him as best he could for now, while Prime...

Prime nearly went ballistic. He punched several holes through a wall and swore loudly.

"I knew it," he growled angrily, "I fraggin' knew it! That sonuvaglitch...I'll make him pay for this!" He turned around to face Bumblebee and stared with sudden understanding at the homemade sweater. He said, gently,

"'Bee...I need you to take that off." Bumblebee shook his head, not wanting them to see the damage that had been inflicted on his body. He wouldn't be able to handle them staring at the humiliating damage. It made him feel weak, pathetic...

"No, I can't," he mumbled. "You can't see it." Prowl, oddly gentle as he was today, said firmly,

"Bumblebee, if you don't take it off, we will. And I doubt you want us to do that. Am I right?"

"Oh, Primus, don't do this to me!"

"It's okay, 'Bee, there's nothing to be ashamed of. Look," reasoned Prowl, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours. Deal?"

Bumblebee sniffed and said,

"Yours? Did someone do this to you too?"

"I did it to myself, when I was training for Circuit-Su. The pressure of being perfect got to me, and I did things to my body to alleviate the stress. I will let you see them if you show us what that monster has done to you first."

This approach got through to Bumblebee. While he was still embarrassed by what he was about to show them, he was not as humiliated as he thought he would be. Knowing that someone else had some damage made it easier to show his own injuries. Slowly, he took the sweater off and dropped it on the floor, revealing many slices, dents, burns as well as oil stains where he'd been injured. His paint job was chipping in places; some areas looked like they'd been scrapped at until there was nothing left to scrape off.

"All this in just a few days," he murmured nervously. Prime got down to one knee for a closer look, then said,

"Why didn't you tell someone before?"

"He told me he'd kill Sari if I did. I think he said he'd offline you and Prowl, too. I didn't want you guys to get hurt, so I didn't say anything."

"I understand," said Optimus sadly. "It must have been very hard to tell us about this. It's important that you know that lots of people, Cybetronian and possibly humans, alike, are in this same kind of situation everyday, some their entire lives, and that you haven't been singled out by any higher power for any reason. What's important is that you told us. That was very brave of you, big guy."

"Th-thanks, Prime. I'm glad you think so. Oh! Prowl, Ratchet told me to send you down to his med bay—I think he knows that you know. I don't know what he wants to do to you."

"I'm not going down there. We'll wait for him to come up here. Prime, could you go get Bulkhead, too? Let him know what's going on and bring him here. I think we should all be here for the confrontation."

"Sure," said Prime, who left cautiously with his axe in hand, leaving Prowl and Bumblebee alone.

"Well," said Prowl, "a promise is a promise." He removed a very thin piece of dark metal from his left arm and let Bumblebee have a look. Prowl's forearm was covered in old scars and marks, as well as a few burns. It was like he'd taken a welder to his own body.

"I wear this thin dark armor over my entire body to hide it," he explained. "It was similar to getting an upgrade, except it functions only to hide. None of it bothers me or gets in my way when I fight. I don't know if we'll be able to get you one like it. Hopefully, if you're lucky, we'll be able to heal you up ourselves."

"How old were you when you did this?"

"Your age, ironically, only a few thousand years old. It's a tough time in your life, Bumblebee. You feel angry, stressed, upset and irritable. But there is nothing wrong with having fun as often as possible, especially your definition of fun. Just don't hurt people in the process. Punishment is a normal part of life; Ratchet's form of punishment is not." He smiled, then said enthusiastically,

"I once knocked down Sentinel Prime on a dare, while I was still in training. One of my few friends was a disrespectful jerk, and loved to make trouble for anyone with any kind of authority. You can't even begin to believe how much trouble I was in." Prowl laughed at his memory, and for the first time in days, Bumblebee cracked a smile. Prowl smiled back and patted the adolescent on the head.

"There's my 'buddy'. Welcome back, Bumblebee."

"Thanks, Prowl. I'm...I'm really glad you helped me. I never would have said anything on my own if you hadn't. I...I'm scared, though. What if Ratchet tries to hurt you, or Sari? I don't think I'd ever forgive myself."

"Don't worry, Bumblebee. We can fix this. It'll take some time, but we can fix it. He's old, and I'm a ninja. We'll be okay. Are...do you...will you be okay?" He asked cautiously, unsure of how to even word the sentence. Bumblebee shrugged and answered truthfully,

"...I don't know yet. What happens when it stops?"

"Well," said Prowl, thinking hard about what to say, "Sometimes...when a 'bot is put through this kind of...situation, they have what humans call 'nightmares'. You know, when you're in recharge and your thought processor is continuously processing new information, despite your being unconscious? Your memory chip sends the memories you obtained in the recent past and they get processed along with everything else, and sometimes that's all you process during recharge. Some 'bots start to do what I did, and they hurt themselves. Others repress it and forget entirely, while some...some commit suicide."

"I won't do that! I promise!" cried Bumblebee. All this new information, all these horrible things were scaring him. Bumblebee, while never having been a sheltered child, had never had time to learn about the downs of life while in Autobot boot camp, spending all his time having fun, training and causing trouble. No, all this talk of 'nightmares', self-inury and suicide was like a wake-up call he'd never even tried to think about before. He was starting to feel ill.

Before either of them knew it, Bumblebee's system faltered and down he went, falling to the floor before Prowl had time to realize it. He got to his knees quickly and helped Bumblebee get into a sitting position and said,

"Bee? Are you still with me?"

"I...ugh...I feel awful..."

"At least you're still on-line. Come on, let's get you on the berth." Prowl lifted Bumblebee into his arms and carried the sick Autobot to his berth. He lay Bumblebee down, who said,

"You don't have a roof...the sky is pretty. Did you know it was blue at this angle? Ooh! Puffy stuff!"

"Bumblebee?" asked Prowl, suddenly frightened and concerned for his friend's health. There must have been some kind of glitch in Bumblebee's processor.

"Bumblebee, did Ratchet ever hit you in the head?"

"All the time," Bumblebee sang. "Look! That thing has wings!" He pointed at a bird that had landed in Prowl's tree.

"Bumblebee, tell me where you were created."

"Iacon."

"What's your creator's name?"

"Bumblebee the second. He was created by Bumblebee the first. They're yellow like me. Hey, I'm yellow, too!"

"You just...never mind. Who is your best friend?"

"The bird, silly. It wants to go see a movie. I gotta go."

"Holy Primus...no, Bee, stay in bed," said a very frightened Prowl, pinning Bumblebee down firmly to the berth, "The bird is not your best friend, and there is no movie. Right now we need to talk to Ratchet." Bumblebee was suddenly brought back to his sanity. He sat back up and looked around for signs of danger.

"What? NO! He'll hurt me!"

"Bumblebee, repeat everything you just said to me."

"I told you that Ratchet was hurting me."

"What about the bird?"

"What bird? Are you going crazy?" Prowl stared, incredulous at what he was witnessing. There had to be a glitch in the little Autobot's processor, but who would take care of it? He certainly wasn't going to Ratchet for help anytime soon.

"All right, Bee. Just stay down, okay? You're not well. Let's just talk. About anything at all, anything."

"Why? What did I do? Did I do something stupid again?"

"You haven't done anything. It's all okay, I promise."

"Ratchet!" Bumblebee suddenly cried out. Prowl took his hand and said,

"He won't hurt you, I prom-AUGH!" He fell to the ground as Bumblebee watched in horror: the Megapuppet had snuck so quietly to them it was unreal. It glared at Prowl and then at Bumblebee.

"I warned you, I told you what would happen if you told anyone, little 'bot. This is your entire fault, Bumblebee, not mine. Now, Prowl has to die, and all because you couldn't keep your big mouth shut." The fake medic held one of Prowl's Cybertronian katanas in his hand and kicked the ninja on his back. He aimed the blade above his spark and said,

"Too bad, brat. He could have been spared if you hadn't been so stupid." Bumblebee shuddered, then screamed,

"NO! DON'T TOUCH HIM!" and he flung himself at the puppet, knocking the sword out of its hand. Bumblebee felt something in his processor snap as he landed on his abuser, and he did the only thing he could think of doing: he began to beat the thing to death. He screamed, swore, kicked, hit, used his weapons...Bumblebee went insane on his attacker.

On the floor, Prowl could hear the commotion and it woke him up. Groaning, he sat up and looked over at the one-sided fight happening beside him. He saw the sword on the floor and grabbed it. Furious at the 'medic' for his crimes against the youngest Autobot, he stomped over to the fight, grabbed Bumblebee and threw him off before ramming the sword into the puppet's empty (unbeknownst to Prowl) spark-chamber.

The puppet became still. Bumblebee trembled, wanting to continue his attack, but he kept himself parked on the floor. Prowl, however, was perfectly still, staring into the supposedly dead thing. Wasn't there supposed to be oil and energon all over the place?

"HeheheHAHAHAHAHA!" Prowl jumped back from the puppet in surprise, staring as the thing began to move. As it laughed, it got to its feet and kept its optics on the ninja.

"Hehehehe...you pathetic children...you always think things are so simple." It staggered toward Prowl, who was now paralyzed with fear; he couldn't move. He just stared at this...thing, this zombie...making its way for him. The puppet reached out for Prowl's face and brushed its digits against his cheek. He shuddered involuntarily at the cold, unwanted touch. The puppet opened its mouth and whispered,

"You're a good kid, but you can be nosy, and for that, you must be punished." The hand stroking the ninja's face became a fist that slammed into Prowl's cheek. He didn't cry out—he almost wasn't aware he'd been hit. Bumblebee watched his friend fall to the floor, then looked up at the 'medic' with terror in his optics. All his hope, all his thoughts of safety were dead, there was no one here to save him. He glanced back at Prowl and realized that if he couldn't protect his friend, how could he ever hope to be protected himself?

Bumblebee dropped to his knees. It was over. He would belong to this monster for the rest of his life, enduring pain and being unloved until the day the 'medic' went offline...

CRASH.

Bumblebee nearly went into shock as Bulkhead smashed through Prowl's door and set his sights on the Megapuppet. Megatron never saw it coming, and cringed and swore as his puppet was crushed instantaneously into a flat piece of scrap metal. It all happened too fast for it to be even climactic.

"Slag...slag...SLAG!" he screeched angrily at the screen, never having thought any of the Autobots would ever attack one of their own so willingly; Prowl had stabbed the thing, Bulkhead had crushed it…it was unreal. He watched the screen as Optimus Prime, Prowl, who was being supported by Bulkhead, and Bumblebee circled the puppet and stared with disbelieving optics.

"This...this isn't Ratchet," gasped Optimus. "He...it has no spark."

"It doesn't have a bio-signature, either," realized Prowl. "Why didn't we realize it?"

"Wh...who did this to me...?" Bumblebee whimpered. He began to tremble, this time more hurt by discovering his abuser decided to remain anonymous. The smallest Autobot began to sway ever so slightly before falling over safely into Prime's arms. The Autobot leader held his unconscious, spark-broken soldier gently and carried him back over to Prowl's berth.

"We need to find who did this," he said in a cracking voice as he laid Bumblebee down, "the poor kid is devastated. Who would want to do this to him? Who...! Oh Primus."

"What?" asked Bulkhead, who wearing tearing up, "what is it?"

"Remember how Ratchet was asked by Professor Sumdac to come to his lab that night? What if this was the thing he was asked to build?"

"It's probable," said Prowl, "but I cannot see any reason why that human would want to hurt Bumblebee, or any of us. He's been so good to us."

"I know," said Prime, casting his optics down, "but it could have been a facade. I'm going there. Now. Prowl, I need you to stay with Bumblebee, but Bulkhead, I need you to come with me."

"Sure thing, boss-bot," said the largest Autobot, "you bet. Anyone who tries to hurt my best little bud is scrap metal walking!"

"Then let's go. Prowl, don't let him leave. Just talk to him when he comes back online, play a game, anything. Just keep him—"

"Safe, I know. Now go. We don't want our culprit getting away." He sat down beside Bumblebee's unconscious body and watched Prime and Bulkhead leave as quickly as they could. He took Bumblebee's hand and held it tightly, sighing sadly.

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**Almost done...I promise...PLEASE REVIEW!!!**

**-Juana**


	9. Megatron

**Nine: Megatron**

Optimus Prime and Bulkhead raced toward Sumdac's laboratory in vehicle mode, rage filling their sparks. All this had been happening under their noses (not that they had any) and only now they had learned that not only was Bumblebee having the slag kicked out of him, but their medical officer was missing. Prime felt like the universe's largest failure, having failed his youngest soldier and having been too stupid to notice any of the awful things that had happened to him. He felt oblivious and idiotic for never realizing that the medic had not had a bio-signature for the past several days.

His self-hatred only fueled his anger, and he sped on in the hope of redeeming himself if he could by finding the culprit, bringing him to justice and protecting his little soldier. Mere meters away from the entrance Prime transformed and raced into the lab, past the small bewildered crowd of humans who had not expected to see him thus far. No alarms were going off, nothing had exploded—what could possibly be wrong? Their confusion grew as Bulkhead crashed in and lumbered by without any explanation and followed Prime's lead.

The two started to scan for any sign of the real Ratchet's bio signature, and were both surprised to find it was nearby. They followed their scanners until they came to the locked door of Sumdac's private lab. They didn't think to knock-they simply kicked the door in and stomped in.

"Ratchet! Are you in here?"

"Yes, he is. And so am I, pathetic Autobot." Prime gasped as he recognized that cold, harsh voice.

"No..."

"Oh, yes, my dear boy," sneered Megatron, watching them closely in his corner, "I'm afraid your fears are confirmed. Prepare to be destroyed!" Several of Megatron's wires sprang forth from the floor and wrapped themselves around Prime and Bulkhead.

"GAH! SLAG!" Bulkhead yelled angrily. His own anger at Megatron for the harm he'd inflicted on Bumblebee was rising faster and becoming stronger than the wires, and stretching his arms out, the giant Autobot broke free and sent a wrecking ball to Megatron's unprotected face.

"AUGH!" shrieked the Decepticon as he felt his face being smashed flat by the heavy wrecking ball. His attention was diverted for a moment, giving Ratchet a chance to attempt to break free. Prime saw him struggling in his prison and ran forward to help him.

"Never thought I'd see you again, kid," he mumbled as Prime grabbed his hands and tugged him out of the bio scanner. Once out of it, Ratchet turned his attention tot he injured Megatron.

"THIS is the moment I've waited for, you slag bag." He transformed his hand into a surgical laser and walked angrily to the Decepticon, who had to squint to see what was going to happen.

"No..." he shrieked when he saw the laser, "NOOOOOO!"

Ratchet at slashed Megatron's face with the laser, over and over again until the evil head was unrecognizable. Energon and oil spurted from the wounds like blood, spattering the medic and oozing all over the floor. Prime and Bulkhead watched on, disgusted by the sight. Energon slowly began to pool around their own feet.

Megatron moaned in pain; it was clear his suffering was unbearable. Ratchet kicked the tyrant's head and screamed,

"This is what you get for beating innocent children! You sick thing, I don't even consider you Cybertronian. You disgust me, you worthless piece of slag! Even your own soldiers hate you! If you were respected, don't you think they'd have come to find you by now?! You are NOTHING to them and to me! And now, you must die for your past actions. Good bye and good riddance, Megatron."

"N—no…no…I c-can't diiiiee…I am M-M-Mega…tronnnnbzzzt…."

Megatron went offline permanently. Optimus Prime and Bulkhead took deep intakes of air into their systems and watched Ratchet. The medic didn't bother to transform his hand back. He just stood there, trembling,, almost in disbelief that he had rid the universe of Megatron all on his own. It was almost too much for him, and he suddenly fell to his rear end and sat in the energon, just staring at the dead Decepticon before him.

Prime and Bulkhead knew better than to go near him just yet. Instead, Prime walked back to the entrance and called to a scientist walking by.

"Excuse me? Could you go get Professor Sumdac for us?"

"I'm sorry," she said, "what?"

"Just get Sumdac, please. It's important." The scientist nodded and ran off to find Sumdac. Prime watched her go and waited. He had to know why Megatron had been here all this time, why nothing had ever been said, why all this had ever happened.

Only moments later, Sumdac and several other scientists, as well as Joshua the intern, came running to the private lab in a hurry. Sumdac's face gave away that he knew part of what the problem was. Prime dimmed his optics, then brightened them as he led the small group of humans in. Pointing to Megatron's head, he asked,

"Why the frag is Megatron here?"

"I…I found him fifty years ago," answered Sumdac meekly. "He…he didn't speak for fifty years; he only started a few months ago. He…he said you were his friends. He…claimed he was afraid to let you see him in this pitiful form."

"Of course he did. He's our nemesis," cut in Bulkhead, "He's the reason our planet was nearly destroyed, the reason our ship crashed on Earth! He's pure evil! And YOU let him hurt my little buddy!" Sumdac put his hands up and said,

"I never told him to hurt anyone. Who has been hurt?"

"Not now, Bulkhead," interrupted Prime, "we need to dispose of this slagger. Take him apart, melt him down, anything. Just get rid of him once and for all. Ratchet…?"

The medic had not heard him, or any of them. He continued to stare at the death he had caused, hypnotized by the energon and oil leaking from the head of Megatron. It was all so…surreal.

"Doc 'bot?" said Bulkhead gently, "Are you okay?" He placed his large hand on the medic's shoulder softly. Ratchet grabbed his hand in shock before realizing he had nothing to fear here. He turned his head and looked up into Bulkhead's optics.

"Yeah," he said slowly, "Yeah, I'm okay. We need to dispose of this…monstrosity. We'll melt him down in several different locations, keeping his components separated. It will make it impossible for any searching Decepticons to find him."

Sumdac's face was almost unreadable. Prime didn't know if he was upset over the death of Megatron, or if it had to do with learning that he'd been keeping the Autobots' worst enemy in his lab for fifty years.

"Professor," he said as he kneeled down, "you didn't know. It's not your fault."

"But I—I should have told you! What did he do!?"

"He kidnapped our medical officer, Ratchet, and used him to build a robot that resembled himself. Megatron used it like a puppet and…well, let's just say one of our Autobots is going to need mental services for quite some time. He's been badly hurt, physically and mentally. We need to dispose of Megatron's head, now."

"And his 'body'," added Ratchet, "I've been building him a new one for the past few days. It won't do anything, but I think we should play it safe."

"Agreed," said Prime. "Professor Sumdac, do you think you could help us disassemble Megatron and have your team take different parts of it to various factories to melt it all down?"

"I…yes, Optimus Prime."

"What's wrong, Professor?" Sumdac sighed and drooped his shoulders.

"Oh, it is nothing," the scientist replied sadly, "It's just, he was so nice to me. He talked about you Autobots as though he were afraid you would be ashamed to see him without a body. Like he cared what you thought."

"Megatron was always good at manipulating people, Professor," said Ratchet, "Lots of good people became Decepticons because of his ability to sweet talk and manipulate others. It was what he did best. Too bad he didn't become a processor analyst on Cybertron. He would have been capable of wonderful things. But he chose the wrong path: destruction, hate, close-mindedness…it's a terrible way to live, if ya ask me."

"It seems that way, Doctor Ratchet," sighed Sumdac. "I'm so sorry for all the trouble he must have caused you all. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Melt this slagger down to nothing," said Ratchet, arms crossed in all seriousness. "DO NOT KEEP HIM, PROFESSOR."

"No, of course not, Doctor. You have my word. All right, people," he clapped his hands at his team of scientists, "let's get going. We have much work to do!" He turned back to the Autobots and said one last time,

"I apologize again, my friends. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you."

"Thank you," said Optimus Prime, "We appreciate it. We need to go home now. I think Prowl is trying to contact me. Good bye." The three Autobots left the lab and headed home.

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**Okay, one more chapter to go and then I'm done with this one. I may or may not do an epilogue, we'll see how I feel. I have two other TF stories to stick up here, one is another TF:A, and the other is G1. So sit tight and check back in a few weeks or a month.**

**-Juana**


	10. Back To Normal

**All right! Last chapter. And the shortest. I don't mean to make them short, it's just how it happens. Anyway, as you know, I have a few more on the way. So sit tight and I'll be back shortly. I may or may not do an epilogue to this, we'll just have to wait and see.**

**See ya soon, kids!**

**-Juana

* * *

**

**Ten: Back To Normal**

"Prime, do you read me?" Prowl's voice came through on Optimus Prime's communicator.

"I read, Prowl. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. He just wants to know where you are." Bumblebee could be heard in the background, asking impatiently where Prime and Bulkhead were.

"Get OFF, Bumblebee….Prime, please tell me you're on your way home."

"Yes, Prowl, we're nearly home. Hi, 'Bee."

"Hey, Prime," Bumblebee called sadly into Prowl's communicator.

"Hey, kid," said Prime softly, "How do you feel?" He did not receive an answer right away. Bumblebee took his time, then said slowly,

"I don't know yet. I don't feel okay, but I don't feel like killing myself."

"…Oh. Well, that's kind of okay, don't you think?:

"I guess. Is…is Ratchet okay?"

"He's all right. I'm sure he'll want to talk to you when we get home, okay?"

"Hmm." Prime sighed, then said,

"All right, give us ten minutes and we'll be back. Play a game with Prowl, or just talk, okay? Anything you need to get off your chassis, you can tell him. Remember, you can trust us."

"I know I can," Bumblebee answered.

"We'll see you when you all get back," said Prowl, "see you soon."

"See you soon, guys," said Prime, and both Autobots terminated the connection. Prime, Bulkhead and Ratchet raced home even quicker, desperate to see and talk with their little soldier. Ten minutes, give or take a few, they arrived. They came in as calmly as they could, not wanting to frighten or disturb Bumblebee. Despite their very recent conversation, it was clearly evident that he did not entirely trust anyone, especially if Ratchet was one of them.

"Hey guys," Prime called, "we're back. Bumblebee, come on out, I think we should all sit down and talk for a while, okay?" Bumblebee came out of his own room with Prowl and walked slowly over to the small group. He eyed them suspiciously, then said,

"How do I know you're not a bunch of crazy robots made by anyone evil? How do I know you won't hurt me?"

"We'll let Sari come over tomorrow and you can spend the whole day together."

"Good enough for me. I haven't been allowed to see her since all this crazy slag started." He smiled, then caught sight of Ratchet, the real Ratchet, looking at him with very sad, very apologetic optics. They stared at each other until Ratchet said,

"Hey, kid. Let's go talk, for a bit, okay? We can talk alone, or with everyone here. Your choice."

"I want everyone here."

"I understand," Ratchet nodded with a small smile, "I understand."

* * *

End. 


End file.
